and the president act so-called fiscal cliff. on the senate floor today, top senate democrat, here he was, harry reid, said the republican counteroffer unveiled yesterday is a serious proposal. reid called the offer a nonstarter. his word. but a serious proposal nonetheless. in an interview just today with bloomberg tv, president obama did not reject the gop offer outright. officials have called it a step backward, not worthy of a counteroffer. but, you know, bottom line here, you have two sides they appear to be pretty far apart with no new negotiations happening at least not to our knowledge. so, with me now from capitol hill is representative peter wel welch. democrat from vermont. good to see you. thanks for coming on. >> thank you. >> so let me just pose this one to you. you just heard harry reid, would you agree with harry reid the plan offered yesterday by that house speaker is, quote unquote, a serious plan? >> well, you know, i don't know the details of it. it is $800 billion supposedly in revenues and it is a lot of med